Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-08-03
DAILY HERALD.
A MOUNTAIN OF SUGAR.
What It Costs Every Year ia
Keep American society From
Turning S0ur.
New York Evening sun.

Keep American SOchety FROM
Turning sour.
New York Evening sun.
Americans ought to be the sweetest
people on earth If, as has been assert
ed, food goes to make the race. Per-
laaps they are when not electing a
President or discussing fisheries. The
quantity of sweets landed at this port
during the year would amaze any one
who has not given the subject special
,cttention. 1t would appear that
Americans are preserved in sugar
afioat on rivers o. ,s:accharine. From
West Indies black strap to goluon Syr-
up: from dainty ladies' fingers to SOLID
:.ound cake: from molasses candy to
the most delicious bonbons, Amerl-
cans beat all other people as absorb
ers Of saccharine, the French not ex-
cepted. No adequate idea OF the
enormous quantity of sugar consumed
in this country can be conveyed by a
statement in pounds. The figures,
however, indicate that Uncle Sam has
a tremendous sweet tooth.
The total sugar importations for the
year 1886 amounted to 2.49S, 1872 900
pounds or about l ,000, 900 tons valued
at 81, ,6O4 ,698. To this tremendous
aggregate Cuba alone contributed l.
aOl ,5O3 900 pounds; Brazil sent 223,-
O62 200 pounds; Germany (beet
sugar) 2O3, ,28S,000 pounds, and the
Sandwich Islands Gree sugar. 191,-
ta3, 900 pounds. Smaller quantities
were imported from the West Indies
and other countries. To the aggre-
gate OF imports must be added the do
mestic product to find the total con-
sumption of sugar in the United
States.
The best imported sugar is the CEN
trifugal, in form of coarse crystalline
particles, varying in size according to
the grade or quality of the article.
The lowest form of the product is
called milado, a thick syrup. of which
compare lively little is now imported.
Samples of sugar are taken from a
specified number of casks of every
cargo by government samplers and
sent to experts, who determine the
grade as a basis for fixing the duty
thereon. The instrument employed
TO indicate the degree of variation in
the quail ty of sugar is called a polar
iscope, Il nd variation of one degree
means u difference of 1-44th of one
per cent. duty, small fraction, but
on millions of pounds it means thou
sands of dollars.
The manner OF handling sugar in the
port has recently undergone change
So nnnfhAx of fhn
ton of business methods, whereby the
same results are obtained by fewer
workers. Formerly the great bulk OF
sugar was stored i'm the warehouses
and withdrawn by the retiners from
time to time-a method which gave
employment to a great number of
coopers and laborers. Now the bulk
OF it goes direct to the retiners, and a
great many Workmen have lost their
occupation in consequence.
In the busy season, which usually
begins about the first of March and
ends about the middle of July, as
many as twenty-five or thirty vessels
are distributed at one time along the
Brooklyn waterfront discharging their
sirar c..rgoes. An idea Of the bulk Of
an average sugar cargo can only be
formed by seeing say 1,600 hogsheads
Of an average weight OF l,50O pounds
each spread out upon the dock.
One hundred OF such cargoes, if
piled in the form. OF pyramid, would
make sugar Cheops. Every pack
age is weighed by government Off
Ger or sworn special. The former re-
ceives four dollars day, six days in
the week; the other 80 cents an hour
for actual service. The weigher's posi-
tion is no sinecure. He is a worker.
He must stand at his scales from 4.
NJ, until sunset; he must endure bldz-
ing suns and face the coolest winds.
What becomes of the million tons OF
imported sugar, not to mention the
domestic product? Ask the ladies,
ask the children, ask the baker and
confectioner, ask the housekeeper.
1t goes into millions of cups OF coffee
and tea daily; into cakes, preserves
and pies into fruits and sauces, and a
hundred other things. The western
f1apjack swims in saccharine fluid; it
permeates the luscious griddle cake.
The cunning confectioner and skilled
housewife mould the crude article into
uniform artistic shapes, and invest the
substance with delicious consistency.
If the supply were suddenly stopped,
society would be converted into sauer-
kraut.